


Taken In Stride

by Brigantine



Category: due South
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-10-05
Updated: 2011-10-05
Packaged: 2017-10-24 08:31:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 295
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/261259
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Brigantine/pseuds/Brigantine
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>For the prompt, "He's a good man, but he's not quite right in the head."  Vecchio/Fraser sort of implied, maybe.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Taken In Stride

Ray's ma ambushes him in the kitchen as he's gulping down a cup of coffee before work. She presses a huge plastic container filled with leftover lasagna into his hands. "You give this to Benton," she tells him. "He looked thin last time I saw him. Too pale. I don't think he's been eating so good. Especially after... you know."

It's funny, how quick Ma forgave Benny for running off after the Metcalf broad, leaving Ray's family with a mortgage in serious question, and Ray with some unsettling doubts about his own motives. For Ma, the whole mess seemed remarkably simple.

One night when Ray couldn't sleep - again - Ma came downstairs to where he was watching television with the sound off, and she sat down next to him in the dark. "Amore," she said sadly. "Love, Raimundo, it makes people do strange things."

In the middle of thinking she didn't know the half of it, Ray remembered that his mother could have married some other man besides Ray's shiftless father. She was a beautiful woman and a hell of a cook, and it wasn't like she hadn't had a choice. "I guess that's so," Ray agreed, and he wondered how many sleepless nights his mother had suffered that Ray hadn't known about.

"Anyway," Ma added matter-of-factly, "Benton's a good man, but he's not quite right in the head. He needs someone to look after him."

"You are absolutely right," Ray snickered. Because she was.

They watched cartoons together until it was early instead of late, and then Ma put the coffee on, and Maria's kids came running downstairs for breakfast, and since then Ray's slept a lot better.

"I'll make sure Benny enjoys the lasagne," Ray promises, and he kisses his mother on the cheek.

 

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End file.
